150 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



CREEPER, 



Certhia familtaris, Lin. 



Tlie Creeper was quite driven off by the severity of the winter, 

 and all April their absence from woods in which they were usually 

 abundant was quite remarkable. They did not begin to reappear 

 here until the beginning of May. I saw the first here on the 4th 

 of May, and Mr. Hardy records having seen one at Oldcambus 

 on the 11th. I have little doubt that these and other species 

 returned to Loch Awe and western localities sooner than they did 

 here. 



WREN. 



Troglodytes parvulus, Koch. 



Disappeared from most inland localities and took to the coast 

 line, in common with many other species. Thus, they appeared 

 commonly along the Berwickshire coast, and elsewhere, feeding 

 a/nongst the tangle on the shore, but finally left even this locality 

 after the storm had continued a week or so [J. Hardy, in lit.]. 

 Wrens only beginning to reappear on Heligoland — where there 

 was dreadful weather then — in the end of April — and so with 

 Redstarts. Little else seen returning [J. Cordeaux, in lit.]. 

 Wrens reported very scarce from various localities. In the outer 

 Hebrides the Wren was not migratory. It remained in North Uist 

 all last winter. But multitudes of Birds, amongst which were 

 many Wrens, were seen by Mr. Boyd flying across Loch Assapol, 

 near Bunessan, having come, apparently, from the outlying Hebrides, 

 via Tyree, Iona, up the Ross of Mull, and were steering for the 

 mainland. I am under the impression that the Wrens which were 

 seen by Mr. Boyd probably had their original starting point from 

 Faroe, Iceland, and north-east, and possibly also from the more 

 northern districts of Scotland, Orkney, and Shetland, while some 

 may have started from Harris and Lewis, where the snow and frost 

 were much more severe than in North Uist, and from which islands 

 I have no positive statement as to their remaining all winter. 

 Judging, however, from local reports on other species, and the 

 nature of the winter generally in Harris, I would imagine that it 

 was quite probable that Wrens left Harris in the depth of the 

 winter of 1878-79. 



Wrens remained scarce at many localities. Mr. Hardy, writing 

 in September to me, says : — "I have not seen a Tit or a Wren for a 



